La Spiga Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Palm Desert

The food here is exceptionally good. It's evident, from the moment you pull up, that the owners and staff take great pride in what they do. Even the valet was friendly and welcoming. We had a party of 3, and had made a reservation for 5:30p. We sat inside, but after seeing the beautiful patio, I wish we'd requested an outside table. Not their fault, I had requested inside, worried that it might be too windy for my dad. We were seated immediately, and our server, Igor, greeted us with a wine and drink list. It's obvious that they want you to feel relaxed, and enjoy the entire dining experience. They do not rush you at all. Look over the wine list. Listen to Igor describe today's special cocktails, and after he serves your drinks, then he presents the dinner menu. We love having appetizer nights, especially when trying someplace new, but there were too many entrees we wanted to try, so we decided to split 1 salad (antipasta) and 1 appetizer (sausages). They arrived with surprising speed. Not large portions, but not skimpy, either. This is definitely a 'Quality over Quantity' establishment. That is not to say that I felt the portions were lacking. So many restaurants serve you ridiculously huge portions. These were perfect, except maybe the ravioli. ($32 for 4 ravioli, is a little steep.) They were excellent ravioli, don't get me wrong, but had it not been for the appetizers and bread, my husband would've eaten my seafood pappardelle. (And mine was so good, I was not in the mood to share! :) My pappardelle was priced at $29, which I felt was very reasonable, considering it was cooked to perfection. I usually shy away from ordering anything with scallops. I love them, however restaurants tend to only cook them two ways: Rubber or Raw. These scallops were perfection - I never thought I would use 'melt in your mouth' as a phrase to describe a scallop, but that's exactly what they did. The pasta was prepared in a light butter sauce. You might consider it a light alfredo, with tiny fresh mushrooms, tender pink shrimp, scallops, and fresh herbs. My dad ordered the pasta bolognese, which at $29 I felt was a little steep, but the flavors in this bolognese could only come from hours worth of preparation. We also ordered 1 cocktail, and 1 glass of red wine. Total bill, including tip, was $200. Again, not an inexpensive restaurant, but more a place to go when your craving that perfect bite. Normally, I take lots of pictures of my food, and everyone else's, but this is just not that type of restaurant. We put our phone's away, and enjoyed our drinks, food and conversation. Quality of food - 5* Hospitality staff - 5* Portions -...

My family and I go out for dinner a lot and we had been wanting to try this place for a while, so we thought my mother-in-law's birthday would be a great opportunity. Our grey hair Italian server, although sounding somewhat fake at first with his Prego here and Prego there, seemed nice and professional at first. We arrived at 8pm, we ordered at approximately 8:20 and the appetizers were served at about 8:40pm, a half hour later. Our server never came back to check on us.... AT 9:40PM, YES AN HOUR LATER WE STILL HADN'T BEEN SERVED OUR MAIN COURSE! and during that HOUR the server had only come to check on us once to tell us the food was coming out in just a few minutes which was a lie. When the main course finally came, the steak I had ordered medium rare came out rare and lukewarm so I had to send it back to cook it a little more, not to mention that the server brought me the $70 steak vs the $58 steak I had ordered and he didn't seem to care about the mistake at all. My mother-in-law's seafood linguine was some premade pasta in heavy cream sauce with hard to find pieces of maybe shrimps(?), hard to tell... And my father-in-law's veal scaloppini was paper thin and and the presentation was terrible. Our server blamed the delay on some large party slowing down the kitchen which is unexcusable in my opinion for a restaurant of that scale. If you can't handle smaller tables when you have large parties, then you're in the wrong business. But at least, you should come and check on your tables that are waiting for their food and apologize, maybe offer them some bread or something while you wait for you meal, be professional instead of ignoring us. Ignoring a problem never helps, it only makes it worse. He comped us one desert and the coffee without even coming to our table to mention it because he knew that wasn't enough to make up for such a terrible experience. Mediocre very overpriced Italian food and lousy service. This restaurant is s joke. I...

This was our first but will certainly not be our last visit! If you are visiting for the first time be sure to ask for directions when you make your reservation, though these will will likely be given voluntarily as the location I'd tucked away. And what a beautiful setting it is!

When we arrived the restaurant they were busy but greeted us warmly and made us feel truly welcome. We asked to be seated outside and we're led onto a beutifully landscaped outdoor seating area. A stunning setting actually. A rose garden in the desert? Absolutely! And as beautiful as any we've seen.

Our waiter arrived immediately to assure that we were made to feel welcome and comfortable. We were offered both a wine list and cocktail list. My wife ordered an Italian margarita and loved it. I don't know fine wines that well so asked for a recommendation for a very dry red. The waiter made a suggestion which I accepted and in what seemed like a few seconds he returned with a sample tasting. Perfect!

This set the stage for a wonderful evening. The waiter was friendly and kind. The octopus antipasto was delicious and was the main course, a pasta in clam sauce was excellent. We lingered after the meal and the waiter's attention never waivered, even long after the bill was settled.

Everything about this restaurant is special. Heck, the valet was even very, very nice even though we had forgotten to have cash at hand for the tip.

If I could give this restaurant 6 stars (or 7) I...